Module 3

Attitude, Learning & Culture

Consumer attitudes are a composite of a consumers (1) beliefs about, (2) feelings about, (3) and
behavioral intentions toward some object--within the context of marketing, usually a brand or
retail store. These components are viewed together since they are highly interdependent and
together represent forces that influence how the consumer will react to the object.

Cognitive learning theories

Cognitive Learning Theory is a broad theory that explains thinking and differing mental
processes and how they are influenced by internal and external factors in order to produce
learning in individuals. When cognitive processes are working normally then acquisition and
storage of knowledge works well, but when these cognitive learning through problem solving,
which enables individuals to gain some control over their environment.
Three types:
Observational learning
Rote Learning
Reasoning
Observational Learning: Individuals learn by observing the behaviour of others, and
consequences of such behaviour. Also known as modeling or vicarious learning.
Learning concepts through simple repetition. Repeated ads teach consumers about a products
attributes.
Reasoning: Highest level of cognitive learning. Involves creative thinking. Depends on how
information is processed and stored
These cognitive processes are: observing, categorizing, and forming generalizations about our
environment. A disruption in these natural cognitive processes can cause behavioral problems in
individuals and the key to treating these problems lies in changing the disrupted process. For
example, a person with an eating disorder genuinely believes that they are extremely overweight.
Some of this is due to a cognitive disruption in which their perception of their own weight is
skewed. A therapist will try to change their constant pattern of thinking that they are overweight
in order to decrease the unhealthy behaviors that are a result of it.
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
The ELM is based on the idea that attitudes are important because attitudes guide decisions and
other behaviors. While attitudes can result from a number of things, persuasion is a primary
source. The model features two routes of persuasive influence: central and peripheral. The ELM
accounts for the differences in persuasive impact produced by arguments that contain ample
information and cogent reasons as compared to messages that rely on simplistic associations of
negative and positive attributes to some object, action or situation.
A persons level of involvement during message processing determines which route to
persuasion is likely to be effective.

The key variable in this process is involvement, the extent to which an individual is willing and
able to think about the position advocated and its supporting materials. When people are
motivated and able to think about the content of the message, elaboration is high. Elaboration
involves cognitive processes such as evaluation, recall, critical judgment, and inferential
judgment. When elaboration is high, the central persuasive route is likely to occur; conversely,
the peripheral route is the likely result of low elaboration. Persuasion may also occur with low
elaboration. The receiver is not guided by his or her assessment of the message, as in the case of
the central route, but the receiver decides to follow a principle or a decision-rule which is derived
from the persuasion situation.

Conditioning theories
The consumer does not always need to go through the learning process himself or herself
sometimes it is possible to learn from observing the consequences of others. For example, stores
may make a big deal out of prosecuting shop lifters not so much because they want to stop that
behavior in those caught, but rather to deter the behavior in others. Similarly, viewers may
empathize with characters in advertisements who experience (usually positive) results from using
a product. The Head n Shoulders advertisement, where a poor man is rejected by women until
he treats his dandruff with an effective cure, is a good example of vicarious learning.
Conditioning Product Associations music, humor, imagery can affect conditioning; slow music
in grocery store no effect, but slow music in restaurant increased drinking; generally
unconditioned stimulus should be presented before conditioned
Classical Conditioning
Pavlovs early work on dogs was known as classical conditioning. Pavlov discovered that when
dogs were fed meat powder they salivated. Pavlov then discovered that if a bell were rung before
the dogs were fed, the dogs would begin salivating in anticipation of being fed (this was
efficient, since they could then begin digesting the meat powder immediately). Pavlov then found
that after the meat had been "paired" with the meat powder enough times, Pavlov could ring the
bell without feeding the dogs and they would still salivate. Pairing a stimulus with another
stimulus that elicits a known response to produce the same response when used alone.

Classical conditioning is the learning of associations among events that allows us to anticipate
and represent our environment. From this viewpoint, classical conditioning is not reflexive
action, but rather the acquisition of new knowledge

Instrumental (Operant) Conditioning

Learning based on a trial-and-error process, with habits forced as the result of positive
experiences (reinforcement). Instrumental, or operant, conditioning, involves a different series of
events, and this what we usually think of as learning. The general pattern is:
There are three major forms of operant learning. In positive reinforcement, an individual does
something and is rewarded. He or she is then more likely to repeat the behavior. For example,
you eat a candy bar (behavior), it tastes good (consequence), and you are thus more likely to eat
a similar candy bar in the future (behavioral change).

Punishment is the opposite. You eat what looks like a piece of candy (behavior), only to discover
that it is a piece of soap with a foul taste (consequences), and subsequently you are less likely to
eat anything that looks remotely like that thing ever again (changed behavior).

It should be noted that negative reinforcement is very different from punishment. An example of
negative reinforcement is an obnoxious sales person who calls you up on the phone, pressuring
you into buying something you dont want to do (aversive stimulus). You eventually agree to buy
it (changed behavior), and the sales person leaves you alone (the aversive stimulus is terminated
as a result of consequences of your behavior).

Neo-Pavlovian Conditioning
A Neo-Pavlovian is a conditioning room where the babies in their different categories are
conditions to fit into their life roles in the new world. Each set of babies belong to a specific
group and are trained to ensure they conduct the roles as required by their group. In Chapter 2 of
the story, the Director takes a group of students to the nurseries to demonstrate how conditioning
is achieved. The Director instructs that books and flowers be positioned in front of Delta
babies. Due to their curiosity the babies crawl happily towards the objects, however when they
are just close enough to touch the items, a mild electric shock is delivered to their bodies. The
pain forces them to back away, and when they are presented by the items once again the babies
are completely terrified. Basically a Neo-Pavlovian is a human conditioned to fit into a specific
group or class of people as required in the brave new world.

Three-Hit Theory
Effective frequency, by advertising industry definition, is the number of times a person is
exposed to an advertising message before a response is made and before exposure is considered
wasteful. In his 1965 The Impact of Television Advertising: Learning without Involvement
Herbert Krugman declared a three hit theory - that there are only three levels of frequency
exposure in psychological terms: Curiosity, recognition and decision.
Having learned the hard way by running thousands of campaigns, that there are diminishing
returns beyond the first impression, finding the optimal frequency of an ad, and therefore its
maximum efficiency, is pretty much the Holy Grail for media planners. As an industry we know
that repeated exposure to ads, specifically at key points in the purchase cycle can positively
change consumer awareness and attitudes towards a brand. Over exposure however, can create
negative sentiment.

Attitude
Consumer attitudes are a composite of three elements: cognitive information, affective
information, and information concerning a consumer's past behavior and future intentions. In
other words, attitude consists of thoughts or beliefs, feelings, and behaviors or intentions towards
a particular thing, which in this case is usually a good or service. For example, you may have a
very positive view of a particular sports car (for example, you believe it performs better than
most), it makes you feel good, and you intend to buy it. A learned predisposition to behave in a
consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a given object. A positive attitude is
generally a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for purchase
Characteristics of Attitudes
Attitudes have an object
Attitudes are learned
Can unlearn
Attitudes have behavioural, evaluative and affective components
Predisposition to act
Overall evaluation
Positive or negative feelings
Attitudes have consistency
Attitudes have direction, degree, strength and centrality
 Positive or negative
Extent of positive or negative feelings
Strength of feelings
Closeness to core cultural values
Attitudes occur within a situation
Belief plays a vital role for consumers because; it can be either positive or negative towards an
object. For example, some may say tea is good and relieves tension, others may say too much of
tea is not good for health. Human beliefs are not accurate and can change according to situations.
Four Basic Functions of Attitudes
The Utilitarian Function
How well it performs
The Ego-defensive Function
To protect ones self-concept
The Value-expressive Function
To convey ones values and lifestyles
The Knowledge Function
A way to gain knowledge
Consumers have certain specific feelings towards some products or brands. Sometimes these
feelings are based on certain beliefs and sometimes they are not. For example, an individual
feels uneasy when he thinks about cheese burst pizza, because of the tremendous amount of
cheese or fat it has.

Behavioral intentions show the plans of consumers with respect to the products. This is
sometimes a logical result of beliefs or feelings, but not always. For example, an individual
personally might not like a restaurant, but may visit it because it is the hangout place for his
friends.

Concept and measurement of attitudes

Traditionally, consumers are thought of as one large group. They act similarly when prompted
with specific marketing stimuli and tactics such as discounts, promotional products, and seasonal
sales. However, as we continue to increase our visibility into consumer behavior through
advanced tracking methods and in-depth web analytics research, we have found that not every
consumer is the same. We need to segment our populations into smaller groups for a greater
understanding of nuanced behavior.
Structural Models of Attitudes
Tri-component Attitude Model
Multi-attribute Attitude Model
Both assume a rational model of human behaviour
Other models of attitude formation
Cognitive dissonance model
Attribution theory
Tri-component attitude model
This theory that we are studying to explain here basically tells about the components of attitudes.
How attitudes are formed? and how these components are integrated to form an attitude. I'll
discuss it here majorly in consumer's context. So let's have deep insight of it...

In the under discussion model of attitude, three components of attitudes are identified by
researchers n these are; Cognitive Component, Affective Component, Conative Component.
Three components are interrelated and integrate to form an attitude of a person toward any
product or service in consumer scenario.
Cognitive Component:
Cognition is basically making decisions going through a thinking process. So this thinking
process can occur on the basis of knowledge and perceptions that already exist in our minds. So
here Ill say that Cognitive Component of attitude is developing a belief based on past
experience or perception and whenever we are exposed to attitude object (about which we are to
form certain attitude) and our those belief will form our behavior towards that attitude object,
and if its positive our attitude towards it will also be positive or vice versa, i.e.

Suppose you are to make decision between where to lunch either McDonald's or KFC, now you
will think and extract all the knowledge in your mind that may be due to past experience or
gathered from different sources, you will be having certain beliefs on the basis of these
knowledge bits and bytes and then your behavior will be led by these beliefs and your attitude
would be led by you behavior.

Affective Component:
This Component of Attitude formation is all about emotional feelings of a consumer about the
particular product or brand. People have certain emotions regarding the attitude objects favorable
or unfavorable; good or bad, it may be regardless of any quality, specification, features, utility or
brand name. Like i may prefer KFC over McDonald's as KFC people are more into charitable
social work. So my positive emotions would be with KFC.

Sometimes emotionally charged states can also manifest these affect-laden experiences. For
instance, if you are at best of your mood and you are asked to have an ice-cream, you response
would most probably be positive, which would be opposite in other cases. So your mood at
certain situation also counts.

Conative Component:
This final component is concerned with the likelihood or tendency that a specific action will be
undertaken by an individual regarding attitude object. It is treated as an expression of consumer's
intention to buy. It may include action itself. Consumers usually make purchases for positively
evaluated brands. Their intentions towards those brands are positive, so their attitude towards
that brand would be positive.

Multi-Attribute Theory
Multi-attribute models are used to understand and measure attitudes. The basic multiattribute
model has three elementsattributes, beliefs, and weights. Attributes are the characteristics of
the attitude object. Beliefs are a measurement of a particular attribute. Weights are the indications
of importance or priority of a particular attribute. A multiattribute model can be used to measure
a consumers overall attitude.
The most influential multiattribute modelthe Fishbein modelalso uses three components of
attitude. The first, salient beliefs, is a reference to the beliefs a person might gain during the
evaluation of a product or service. Second, object-attribute linkages, is an indicator of the
probability of importance for a particular attribute associated with an attitude object. Evaluation,
the third component, is a measurement of importance for the attribute. The goal of the Fishbein
model is to reduce overall attitudes into a score. Past and predicted consumer behavior can be
used to enhance the Fishbein model (Smith, Terry, Manstead, & Louis, 2008).

Cognitive Dissonance Model

Cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors.
This produces a feeling of discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs or
behaviors to reduce the discomfort and restore balance etc.
For example, when people smoke (behavior) and they know that smoking causes cancer
(cognition). Festinger's (1957) cognitive dissonance theory suggests that we have an inner drive
to hold all our attitudes and beliefs in harmony and avoid disharmony (or dissonance).

Attribution Theory
Attribution theory deals with how the social perceiver uses information to arrive at causal
explanations for events. It examines what information is gathered and how it is combined to
form a causal judgment (Fiske, & Taylor, 1991). Attribution theory is concerned with how and
why ordinary people explain events as they do. Heider (1958) believed that people are naive
psychologists trying to make sense of the social world. People tend to see cause and effect
relationships, even where there is none. Heider didnt so much develop a theory himself as
emphasize certain themes that others took up. There were two main ideas that he put forward
that became influential.

Self Perception Theory

Self-perception theory posits that people determine their attitudes and preferences by interpreting
the meaning of their own behavior. Critcher and Gilovich looked at whether people also rely on
the unobservable behavior that is their mindwandering when making inferences about their
attitudes and preferences.
Attitude Change
Attitude change and formation are not all that different. They are both learned, they are both
influenced by many factors such as: personal experience, personality effects, family influence,
and marketing communications.
Strategies
Changing the Basic Motivational Functions
Associating the Product with an Admired Group or Event
Altering Components of the Multiattribute Model
Changing Beliefs about Competitors Brands
Central and peripheral routes of changing attitudes
Petty and Cacioppo state that there are two routes to persuasion: central and peripheral.
The central route to persuasion consists of thoughtful consideration of the arguments (ideas,
content) of the message. When a receiver is doing central processing, he or she is being an active
participant in the process of persuasion. Central processing has two prerequisites: It can only
occur when the receiver has both the motivation and the ability to think about the message and
its topic. If the listener doesnt care about the topic of the persuasive message, he or she will
almost certainly lack the motivation to do central processing. On the other hand, if the listener is
distracted or has trouble understanding the message, he or she will lack the ability to do central
processing.

The peripheral route to persuasion occurs when the listener decides whether to agree with the
message based on other cues besides the strength of the arguments or ideas in the message. For
example, a listener may decide to agree with a message because the source appears to be an
expert, or is attractive. The peripheral route also occurs when a listener is persuaded because he
or she notices that a message has many arguments but lacks the ability or motivation to think
about them individually. In other words, peripheral cues, like source expertise (credibility) or
many arguments in one message, are a short-cut. I dont want to or cant think carefully about the
ideas in this persuasive message, but it is a fair gamble to go ahead agree with the message if the
source appears to be knowledgeable or if there are many arguments in support of the message.

Concept of Culture
Cultural factors comprise of set of values and ideologies of a particular community or group of
individuals. It is the culture of an individual which decides the way he/she behaves. In simpler
words, culture is nothing but values of an individual. What an individual learns from his parents
and relatives as a child becomes his culture.
The sum total of learned beliefs, values, and customs that serve to regulate the consumer
behavior of members of a particular society.
Key Characteristics of Culture
 The Impact of culture is hard to identify
Culture is dynamic
Culture is shared
Culture is learned through enculturation and acculturation
Culture offers order, direction, and guidance in all phases of human problem solving
- e.g. When to eat, Where to eat
Example - In India, people still value joint family system and family ties. Children in India are
conditioned to stay with their parents till they get married as compared to foreign countries
where children are more independent and leave their parents once they start earning a living for
themselves.

People from upper class generally have a tendency to spend on luxurious items such as
expensive gadgets, cars, dresses etc. You would hardly find an individual from a lower class
spending money on high-end products. A person who finds it difficult to make ends meet would
rather prefer spending on items necessary for survival. Individuals from middle class segment
generally are more interested in buying products which would make their future secure.
How culture is communicated
Language and symbols
Ritual
Sharing of Culture
Culture is a problematic issue for many marketers since it is inherently nebulous and often
difficult to understand. One may violate the cultural norms of another country without being
informed of this, and people from different cultures may feel uncomfortable in each others
presence without knowing exactly why (for example, two speakers may unconsciously continue
to attempt to adjust to reach an incompatible preferred interpersonal distance).

Family life cycle and decision-making

In 1960s, based on their research Wells and Gruber came up with a new concept of
segmentation, called the family life cycle. Family life cycle can be a part of the segmentation
targeting and positioning triangle or even the consumer buying behavior study as it concerns
itself with the various phases and generations of people present within an individual family and
how to target them with your marketing efforts.

Thus, in a joint family, there might be youngsters, parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, all in
different phases of their life. By taking each of them as a target market or a target demography,
what can be the marketing strategies that you can adopt, can be answered by Family life cycle.
The Typical Household
Canada: Nuclear family
Thailand: Extended family
USA: Not married, no children
The concept has grown in popularity in the last few decades because of being applied in different
kind of industries with successful results. Until now you might have heard about product life
cycle or customer life cycle. However, the family life cycle is focusing on shopping styles,
information use and decision making differences by a person in the different stages of his life.
As we grow older, we are moving steadily from one stage to another, moving from an initial
buying behavior focusing only on ourselves to a more mature and responsible one, by taking into
consideration not only our needs but also the needs of our families. By understanding in which
stage a person is in the family life cycle, marketers can anticipate their needs, and determine the
products and services they can provide him.

The Family Life Cycle

Traditional Family Life Cycle
Stage I: Bachelorhood
Stage II: Honeymooners
Stage III: Parenthood
Stage IV: Post-parenthood
Stage V: Dissolution
Modifications - the Nontraditional FLC
Basically, the family life cycle model describes the stages through which consumers pass through
their lives when they have families. There are different versions of the categorization of the
stages but the most common are: bachelor stage, new married couple, fully nest 1, fully nest 2,
empty nest, solitary survivor.

The main two advantages of the family life cycle concept is that it provides a technique of
anticipating the market growth through market estimation, by forecasting the number of persons
entering into each stage of a cycle in one year. It provides an overview of the variables which
affect the entry of a family into the different stages of life.

Traditional Family Life Cycle

Stage I: Bachelorhood
Stage II: Honeymooners
Stage III: Parenthood
Stage IV: Postparenthood
Stage V: Dissolution
Modifications - the Nontraditional FLC
Focusing on the demographic patterns and social trends of people, the family life cycle concept
describes the effect of time on a family through the different stages of life focusing on their
patterns of consumption and spending based on their income.

Individuals and families tend to go through a "life cycle:" The simple life cycle goes from For
purposes of this discussion, a "couple" may either be married or merely involve living together.
The breakup of a non-marital relationship involving cohabitation is similarly considered
equivalent to a divorce. In real life, this situation is, of course, a bit more complicated. For
example, many couples undergo divorce. Then we have one of the scenarios:
Single parenthood can result either from divorce or from the death of one parent. Divorce usually
entails a significant change in the relative wealth of spouses. In some cases, the non-custodial
parent (usually the father) will not pay the required child support, and even if he or she does, that
still may not leave the custodial parent and children as well off as they were during the marriage.
On the other hand, in some cases, some non-custodial parents will be called on to pay a large part
of their income in child support.

Individual members of families often serve different roles in decisions that ultimately draw on
shared family resources. Some individuals are information gatherers/holders, who seek out
information about products of relevance. These individuals often have a great deal of power
because they may selectively pass on information that favors their chosen
alternatives. Influencers do not ultimately have the power decide between alternatives, but they
may make their wishes known by asking for specific products or causing embarrassing situations
if their demands are not met.

Diffusion of Innovation
Products tend to go through a life cycle. Initially, a product is introduced. Since the product is not
well known and is usually expensive (e.g., as microwave ovens were in the late 1970s), sales are
usually limited. Eventually, however, many products reach a growth phasesales increase
dramatically. More firms enter with their models of the product. The process by which the
acceptance of an innovation is spread by communication to members of social system over a
period of time.
Defining Innovations
Firm-oriented definitions
Product-oriented definitions
Market-oriented definitions
Consumer-oriented definitions
Frequently, unfortunately, the product will reach a maturity stage where little growth will be
seen. For example, in the United States, almost every household has at least one color TV set.
Some products may also reach a decline stage, usually because the product category is being
replaced by something better.

For example, typewriters experienced declining sales as more consumers switched to computers
or other word processing equipment. The product life cycle is tied to the phenomenon of
diffusion of innovation. When a new product comes out, it is likely to first be adopted by
consumers who are more innovative than othersthey are willing to pay a premium price for the
new product and take a risk on unproven technology. It is important to be on the good side of
innovators since many other later adopters will tend to rely for advice on the innovators who are
thought to be more knowledgeable about new products for advice.
Innovators: Description
2.5% of population
Venturesome
Very eager to try new ideas
Acceptable if risk is daring
More cosmopolite social relationships
Communicates with other innovators
Early Adopters: Description.
13.5% of population
Respected
More integrated into the local social system
The persons to check with before adopting a new idea
Category contains greatest number of opinion leaders
 Are role models
Early Majority: Description
34% of population
Deliberate
Adopt new ideas just prior to the average time
Seldom hold leadership positions
Deliberate for some time before adopting
Late Majority: Description
34% of population
Skeptical
Adopt new ideas just after the average time
Adopting may be both an economic necessity and a reaction to peer pressures
Innovations approached cautiously
Laggards: Description
16% of population
Traditional
The last people to adopt an innovation
Most localite in outlook
Oriented to the past
Suspicious of the new
At later phases of the PLC, the firm may need to modify its market strategy. For example, facing
a saturated market for baking soda in its traditional use, Arm Hammer launched a major
campaign to get consumers to use the product to deodorize refrigerators. Deodorizing powders to
be used before vacuuming were also created. It is sometimes useful to think of products as being
either new or existing.
Many firms today rely increasingly on new products for a large part of their sales. New products
can be new in several ways. They can be new to the marketno one else ever made a product
like this before. For example, Chrysler invented the minivan. Products can also be new to
the firmanother firm invented the product, but the firm is now making its own version.
For example, IBM did not invent the personal computer, but entered after other firms showed the
market to have a high potential. Products can be new to the segmente.g., cellular phones and
pagers were first aimed at physicians and other price-insensitive segments. Later, firms decided
to target the more price-sensitive mass market. A product can be new for legal purposes. Because
consumers tend to be attracted to new and improved products, the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC) only allows firms to put that label on reformulated products for six months after a
significant change has been made.

The diffusion of innovation refers to the tendency of new products, practices, or ideas to spread
among people. Usually, when new products or ideas come about, they are only adopted by a
small group of people initially; later, many innovations spread to other people. The bell shaped
curve frequently illustrates the rate of adoption of a new product. Cumulative adoptions are
reflected by the S-shaped curve. Thesaturation point is the maximum proportion of consumers
likely to adopt a product. In the case of refrigerators in the U.S., the saturation level is nearly one
hundred percent of households; it well below that for video games that, even when spread out to
a large part of the population, will be of interest to far from everyone.
Several specific product categories have case histories that illustrate important issues in
adoption. Until sometime in the 1800s, few physicians bothered to scrub prior to surgery, even
though new scientific theories predicted that small microbes not visible to the naked eye could
cause infection. Younger and more progressive physicians began scrubbing early on, but they
lacked the stature to make their older colleagues follow.

Opinion Leadership
The process by which one person (the opinion leader) informally influences the consumption
actions or attitudes of others who may be opinion seekers or opinion recipients

Market researchers identify opinion leaders by such methods as self designation, key informants,
the sociometric method and the objective method. Studies of opinion leadership indicate that this
phenomenon tends to be product category specific, generally one of their interest. An opinion
leader of one product range can be an opinion receiver for another product category. Generally,
opinion leaders are gregarious, self confident, innovative people who like to talk. Additionally,
they may feel differentiated from others and choose to act differently (or public individuation).
They acquire information about their areas of interest through avid readership of special interest
magazines and ezines and by means of new product trials.

Reasons for the Effectiveness of Opinion Leadership

Credibility
Positive and Negative Product Information
Information and Advice
Opinion Leadership Is Category-Specific
Opinion Leadership Is a Two-way Street
Who is a market maven ?
The market maven is an intense case of a opinion leader kind of person. These consumers
possess a wide range of information about many different types of products, retail outlets, and
other dimensions of markets. They both initiative discussions with other consumers and respond
to requests for market information over a wide range of products and services. Market mavens
are also distinguished from other opinion leaders because their influence stems not so much from
product experience but from a more general knowledge or market expertise that leads them to an
early awareness of a wide array of new products and services.

The opinion leadership process usually take place among friends, neighbours and work
associates who have frequent physical proximity and thus have ample opportunity to hold
informal product related conversations. These conversations usually occur naturally in the
context of the product-category usage. The two step flow of communication theory highlights
the role of interpersonal influence in the transmission of information from the mass media to the
populations at large. This theory provides the foundation for a revised multi step flow of
communication model, which takes into account the fact that information and influence often are
2 way processes and that the opinion leaders both influence and are influenced by opinion
receivers.

It is important for the marketers to segment their audiences into opinion leaders and opinion
receivers for their respective product categories. When marketers can direct their promotional
efforts to the more influential segments of these markets, these opinion leaders will transmit the
information to those who seek product advice. Marketers try to simulate and stimulate opinion
leadership. They have also found that they can create opinion leaders for their products by taking
socially involved or influential people and deliberately increasing their enthusiasm for a product
category.
Attribution theory and Cognitive dissonance
Attribution theory is concerned with how individuals interpret events and how this relates to their
thinking and behavior. Attribution theory assumes that people try to determine why people do
what they do. A person seeking to understand why another person did something may attribute
one or more causes to that behavior. According to Heider a person can make two attributions 1)
internal attribution, the inference that a person is behaving in a certain way because of something
about the person, such as attitude, character or personality. 2) external attribution, the inference
that a person is behaving a certain way because of something about the situation he or she is in.
Our attributions are also significantly driven by our emotional and motivational drives. Blaming
other people and avoiding personal recrimination are very real self-serving attributions. We will
also make attributions to defend what we perceive as attacks. We will point to injustice in an
unfair world. We will even tend to blame victims (of us and of others) for their fate as we seek to
distance ourselves from thoughts of suffering the same plight. We will also tend to ascribe less
variability to other people than ourselves, seeing ourselves as more multifaceted and less
predictable than others. This may well because we can see more of what is inside ourselves (and
spend more time doing this).

Psychologist Leon Festinger proposed a theory of cognitive dissonance centered on how people
try to reach internal consistency. He suggested that people have an inner need to ensure that their
beliefs and behaviors are consistent. Inconsistent or conflicting beliefs leads to disharmony,
which people strive to avoid. In his book A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, Festinger explained,
"Cognitive dissonance can be seen as an antecedent condition which leads to activity oriented
toward dissonance reduction just as hunger leads toward activity oriented toward hunger
reduction. It is a very different motivation from what psychologists are used to dealing with but,
as we shall see, nonetheless powerful." The amount of dissonance people experience can depend
on a few different factors, including how highly we value a particular belief and the degree to
which our beliefs are inconsistent.

The overall strength of the dissonance can be influenced by several factors. Cognitions that are
more personal, such as beliefs about the self, tend to result in greater dissonance. The importance
of the cognitions also plays a role. Things that involve highly valued typically result in stronger
dissonance. The ratio between dissonant thoughts and consonant thoughts can also play a role in
how strong the feelings of dissonance are. The greater the strength of the dissonance, the more
pressure there is to relieve the feelings of discomfort. Cognitive dissonance can often have a
powerful influence on our behaviors and actions. Let's start by looking at some examples of how
this works.

Examples of Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance can occur in many areas of life, but it is particularly evident in situations
where an individual's behavior conflicts with beliefs that are integral to his or her self-identity.
For example, consider a situation in which a man who places a value on being environmentally
responsible just purchased a new car that he later discovers does not get great gas mileage.

The conflict:
 It is important for the man to take care of the environment.
He is driving a car that is not environmentally-friendly.

In order to reduce this dissonance between belief and behavior, he has a few difference choices.

He can sell the car and purchase another one that gets better gas mileage or he can reduce his
emphasis on environmental responsibility. In the case of the second option, his dissonance could
be further minimized by engaging in actions that reduce the impact of driving a gas-guzzling
vehicle, such as utilizing public transportation more frequently or riding his bike to work on
occasion. A more common example of cognitive dissonance occurs in the purchasing decisions
we make on a regular basis. Most people want to hold the belief that they make good choices.
When a product or item we purchase turns out badly, it conflicts with our previously existing
belief about our decision-making abilities.

Persuasion and Persuasibility

Persuasion marketing applies what we know about human psychology to develop techniques to
market products or services. In this case, it specifically applies to the promotions aspect of the
marketing mix, and builds on a customer's impulsive behavior to lead them to purchase.
In terms of Internet commerce, persuasion marketing includes how a web page is designed.
Again, applying human psychology to web designfocusing on the part of the decision-making
process thats not consciously controlled elements such as layout, copy, and typography,
combined with the right promotional messages, encourage website visitors to follow pre-planned
pathways on the website, and take specific actions, rather than giving them free reign of choice
in how they interact with the website.
Salespeople have been using persuasive techniques for as long as they have been around, and
now work to translate these techniques on the web. Persuasion marketing, in fact, was a top
subject discussed by keynote speaker Susan Bratton at the 2011 SES (Search Engine Strategies)
San Francisco convention, attended by more than 1,000 marketing and advertising professionals.
Its a topic, and a strategic approach, that appeals to marketers in a variety of industries. If you
have an e-commerce website, then you want to convert visits to salesand persuasion marketing
techniques ease that process.
One of the insights of persuasion marketing is that customers sensitivity to persuasive arguments
varies according to a number of factors, including their immediate emotional state. Therefore, in
order to increase the chances of converting a customer, a salesperson or marketer needs to look
for a persuasion window, open one if they can, and make the deal before it closes again.
Consider a visitor who has just registered for a newsletter or promotion on a website and lands
on a "thank you" page. Since that visitor has already engaged with the website and is in an
"interactive state", additional offers on "thank you" pages typically earn a 39% conversion rate.
Another way to generate persuasive windows is to alarm clock a website. Many marketers
design pages in a way that people have reasons to regularly check it to avoid missing out on
opportunities or offers. When people visit a website on their own time, they arrive already open
to persuasion.
General persuasibility-a person's readiness to accept social influence from others irrespective of
what he or she knows about the communicator or what it is that the communicator is advocating-
is studied. Significant contributions on individual. In contrast, persuasibility was dened
independently of the norms of the home. The concept of persuasibility was developed by
Hovland, Janis and others,8 and refers to consistent individual differences in susceptibility to
persuasion. They noted that almost irrespective of the issue involved, there seemed to be some
individuals who were more susceptible than others to persuasive appeals.